900,000 euros for stays abroad outside Europe

With a special grant of around 900,000 euros the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research places a new focus on experience abroad outside Europe. The science minister Iris Rauskala’s goal is to ‘enable even more students to study or do an internship abroad – also outside Europe. We have therefore supplemented the EU funds of around four million euros with national funds for the first time.’ In the academic year 2019/2020 38 mobility projects involving cooperation between higher education institutions around the world were approved under the ‘Erasmus+ International Higher Education Mobility’ programme – a record number since the start of this initiative in 2015. This will support around 1,200 study visits, internships, teaching and further education courses in 60 countries around the globe.

At the Austrian Research and Innovation Talks (ARIT) 2019 in New York on 14 September Rauskala emphasised the good relations between Austrian and US higher education institutions and research institutions. ‘I am happy that this programme track also enables us to support additional stays in the USA,’ said the minister of science. ‘Sixty percent of the funds from the programme track benefit students, and the special endowment allows us to provide financial support to a further 200 young people.’ Thirty-four people are going to the USA in the current academic year with this funding programme.

The OeAD’s managing director Jakob Calice adds: ‘A stay abroad in a distant country not only broadens a student’s horizon; it also greatly enhances their individual CV. Who can boast having done an internship or a semester abroad in the USA, China or South Africa? Domestic higher education institutions and companies also benefit from these experiences.’ Spain, France and the United Kingdom are the most popular destination countries of Austrian students. Israel ranks first among international destinations, followed by Russia and Ukraine.

The total funding for Erasmus+ has been increased: in 2019 € 47.4 million in EU funding will go to the Austrian education sector – an increase of 25.7 per cent compared to 2018. In Austria the OeAD manages the programme. ‘We collect 100 per cent of the funds from the EU, which are directly used for the internationalisation of our education system,’ Calice affirms.